Faced with a wave of backlash after the Energy Decree, an act passed without transparency that introduced a solidarity tax and scrapped investment budgets for several sectors, Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke is continuing to meet with foreign investors, who he says the government will continue to promise no raise taxes and provide predictability.

• “We undertook not to invent new taxes and not to increase the existing ones, and we fulfilled our promise, although it was not easy. We promised investors stability and predictability and kept our word.
• We are committed to being a government that supports investment, and we have allocated the largest amount for investment in the last 32 years, more than 90 billion lei allocated in the state budget,” said Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke on Wednesday, in the West organized by the Foreign Investors Council (FIC).

The Prime Minister also noted the dynamics of direct foreign investments, which increased by more than 21% in six months of this year, for which he thanked foreign investors.

“At the same time, the number of newly created companies with foreign capital in Romania increased in the first six months of this year by 35% compared to the same period in 2021. These are concrete things, facts, and I can only be happy that we did a good job, that investors trust Romania and come to invest in our country,” said Chuke.

Chuke: We will launch a new foreign investment agency that will work under the government

Among other things, the Prime Minister also talked about new challenges that have arisen, especially in the energy sector, and announced the creation of a new foreign investment agency.

• “Energy transition and digital transformation are also on the Government’s agenda, and we encourage the development of a constructive dialogue with business and academia, resulting in a long-term plan for Romania until 2040.
• To achieve these goals, we will launch an operational and efficient foreign investment agency, which will be the central point of communication with companies interested in investing in Romania. This agency will work in the Government directly under the Prime Minister, and it is expected that in the near future it will be considered by the Government for approval, and then it will become operational,” said the Prime Minister.

Deaf dialogue at Victoria Palace: French investors raise 5 concerns, including rising taxes. Chuke remembered only the positive

We will remind, on Monday, September 5, in the Victoria Palace, French investors, members of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania, sent several messages to Prime Minister Chuke.

On behalf of French investors, Francois Coste, president of the French Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Groupama Asigurări, highlighted three positive aspects of the socio-economic evolution in our country: high economic growth in the first half of the year (5.1%). , a very pleasant surprise, the stability of the leu-euro exchange rate and positive developments in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, the French official also mentioned the concern:

“However, we are going through a mixed period as there are serious concerns from companies and I will mention 5:

• ongoing border war in Romania
• an unprecedented energy crisis with supply uncertainty and high prices
• high inflation with an annual rate of 15% above the European average, reducing companies’ margins and their ability to invest, threatening workers’ purchasing power and destabilizing the labor market, which unfortunately remains very tight. Finally, 2 perspectives that concern us:
• recession in the West, on which the economy of Romania also depends
• raising taxes to reduce the government deficit,” said Francois Coste.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Nicolae Chouquet, in his speech to French foreign investors, kept only the positive aspects to which he added “political stability” and said that the measures were taken through transparency and without adding new taxes.

Photo source: Dreamstime.com